Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 11
11
The Cabinet Office also recognised the importance of retention.
Conclusion
The Cabinet Office also recognised the importance of retention. One of its key aims is to look at how people progress within the civil service once they are in post. The Cabinet Office acknowledged it can take three to five years for someone to fully understand their role, and stated that this is the minimum amount of time they would like to see individuals stay in a post if possible.20 The Cabinet Office told us that introducing pay flexibilities had greatly improved retention levels within the Commercial function.21 18 Q 52 19 Qq 65,89, 92 20 Q 51 21 Q 51 Specialist Skills in the civil service 11 2 Planning and data Departmental data and workforce plans
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
2.2 The Cabinet Office confirms that all matters related to pay for grades below the Senior Civil Service (SCS) are delegated to departments. Functions have introduced measures to address pay disparities by, for example, establishing robust pay exception case processes. 2.3 The Cabinet Office reviews SCS pay across functions and professions through the Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB) evidence each year. HM Treasury promotes the use of Pivotal Role Allowances as an effective tool for retaining members of the SCS in highly specialised roles including those delivering the riskiest major projects across government, providing extra flexibility to departments and functions when it comes to pay. 2.4 The Cabinet Office reviews the use of SCS pay exceptions on an annual basis (the next review is due in Summer 2021) to ensure the policy is being used appropriately. Most functions already play an active 17 role in advising the Head of Function on pay exception cases for SCS roles. HM Treasury continues to promote the use of the SCS pay exceptions process in appropriate circumstances, where internal candidates move to roles with greater scale or responsibility than their previous role. This requires agreement from the Permanent Secretary and relevant Head of Profession. The Finance function does this by using data from recruitment campaigns and wider market benchmarking. 2.5 New SCS pay rules have been designed to address internal disparities, such as no pay increases for moves within the SCS on level transfer. The Cabinet Office is planning to implement a new capability- based pay system for SCS to reward the development of capability as individuals gain experience and skills whilst remaining in role. Initial pilots will be run from September 2021 to test the capability measurement mechanism. The Cabinet Office is also considering how this could be developed further for delegated grades below SCS. The Finance function has also made use of bulk Pivotal Role Allowance payments for SCS roles to incentivise the retention of key individuals in critical roles. 2.6 In relation to delegated grades, the Cabinet Office collates and shares the use of allowances across departments in order to encourage pay coherence. Departments are encouraged to work together to collectively address pay system challenges for professions and functions. In addition, the Cabinet Office encourages departments, professions and functions to submit cases for pay flexibility where they are able to set out a clear justification and business need, including the identified efficiency savings to fund such proposals. This includes the option to submit cases to introduce Capability Based Pay arrangements. The Civil Service Pay Remit Guidance outlines the pay flexibility business case and criteria process. 2.7 In relation to specialist pay frameworks, the Digital, Data and Technology Framework (DDAT) was first agreed in 2016 to allow departments to use specialist pay arrangements to attract individuals to hard to recruit roles, by using efficiencies gained from reducing the number of contractors within the given department.